Black Hawks hope to meet Brewer again

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks took it on the chin last weekend, losing 7-1, when they traveled to Brewer to take on the No. 1 Witches. But the score coach Joel Trickey said, didn’t tell the entire story.
The Black Hawks were ahead 1-0 early in the second period, with all three lines skating, they seemed to be controlling most of the play. But, a combined 14 minutes of penalties tagged to a Black Hawks player created a hole too great for the team to climb out of.
    The first period was an even affair with tight defense and very few scoring chances as the Witches outshot the Black Hawks by a 5-3 margin. Changes in the Black Hawk defensive scheme seemed to be working well and the powerful Witch offense saw very few scoring chances.
The second period started out the same and just 1:09 in, Parker Sanderson rounded the net and fed a pass to Dylan Gard in the high slot. Gard cleanly beat the Witches goalie to give the Black Hawks a 1-0 lead.
“We continued to have the best of the play until the 7:24 mark when the pivotal call was made,” said Trickey. “A questionable hooking penalty was called and when the player asked what he did he was given 12 more minutes in penalties.”
This required the Black Hawks to stop skating three lines and as the period progressed they continued to be hit with penalties. Constant penalty killing finally took its toll on the Black Hawks and they surrendered three goals in the second to make the score 3-1 Witches.
The third period was much the same as the second, with Brewer adding an early goal and three more goals late in the period. Malik Abouleish made 19 saves and Avery Kibler came in early in the third in relief, making 14 saves as the Witches were constantly on the power play for most of the game.
“The kids came ready to play this game and we were having a great game until one of the referees inserted himself into the flow of the game,” said Trickey. “These two teams are very evenly matched and we’re sure another game between these teams will be very close. We’re not discouraged by the outcome.
“Our goal now is to work hard to reach the Eastern Maine finals. Every indication is that we will see the Witches again there, if we can buckle down and get ourselves to that game. We expect a much different game and hopefully a better outcome if we get a chance to play Brewer again,” Trickey said.
The Black Hawks, who are second in the Class B Heal Point standings behind undefeated Brewer, will be at home Friday to Orono at 6 p.m. and on Monday, they will travel to Hampden.